Indians begin well at World TT

Paris India’s Soumyajit Ghosh, Harmeet Desai, Sanil Shetty and Neha Aggarwal won their opening qualifying matches at the World Table Championships here.

Current national champion Ghosh beat Uzbek Zokhid Kenjaev 6-11, 13-11, 8-11, 11-6, 11-5, 11-8 in the first of his men’s singles preliminary round match Tuesday.

Desai blanked Pablo Tabachinik 11-9, 11-5, 11-4, 11-9 while southpaw Sanil Shetty defeated Guatemala’s Jose Miguel Ramirez 11-7, 11-7, 11-4, 5-11, 11-7.

They all need one more win to qualify for the main draw of 128. World No.69 Sharath Kamal is the lone Indian who has got a direct entry into the main draw beginning Wednesday.

Delhi girl Neha also started well in the women’s preliminary rounds. She beat Gokce Nur Gungor of Turkey 11-3, 11-9, 3-11, 12-10, 11-6 in a match played Tuesday.

Mouma Das, Madhurika Patkar and Shamini Kumaresan have got a bye in the first qualifying round.